


Surprise, Surprise

by YouStoleMySocks



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Sarah doesn't know how to party, as always some goblin shenanigans, playful Jareth is playful, some alcohol, some language, some steamy makeouts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 08:25:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2685950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YouStoleMySocks/pseuds/YouStoleMySocks
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes you get so wrapped up in everything else that you don’t notice the crystal sitting on the coffee table...Or the owl perching in the window...Or the Goblin King lounging in your bed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise, Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this has just been sitting in a folder unfinished for more than two years now, and I was determined to finish it even if it killed me. Which it nearly did. It's way longer than I was expecting, there is so much lead in, jesus christ, and you can kind of tell where I gave up and just sort of plowed through it. But hopefully it didn't turn out too bad. Hopefully you all enjoy it. Uncreative title is uncreative.

“Come on, Sarah, it’ll be fun!”

The brunette blew out a sigh. “Ok, fine, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! She’s gonna love it!”

Sarah watched the blonde scamper away and heaved another sigh. _You just can’t say no, can you?_ She turned around and headed for her dorm. After fishing out her keys and letting herself in, she tossed her bag onto her bed and went to find some ibuprofen for the headache building behind her eyes. A few pills and a microwave pizza later, she collapsed onto the bed beside her bag. _This isn’t a big deal. It’s just planning a surprise party. How hard can it be?_

\- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . –

“Come on, Sarah, it’ll be fun!” the brunette said, her voice warped in a mocking imitation of her friend. She was currently up on a ladder, off of which she had already nearly fallen, over a dozen times, hanging streamers from the ceiling while simultaneously blowing up balloons. Sarah had convinced her father to loan her the house while he and her stepmother were out of town for the weekend. She hadn’t been able to think of any place better for the surprise party. Choking on a shriek, Sarah jumped as the balloon in her hand exploded. She growled and chucked the scraps of latex away. The whole thing seemed very juvenile. The streamers, the balloons, the house party. She couldn’t even think of any games, if that idea wasn’t stupid in and of itself. Was it pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey? Or was beer pong more appropriate? She groaned loudly and buried her head in her arms resting on top of the ladder. Why had she agreed to this? Absentmindedly, she reached for another balloon and blew it up. As soon as it was full, she opened her mouth and let it fly, watching it whiz around the room like a bat out of hell. It wasn’t long before it ran out of air and landed on the edge of the coffee table. Sighing loudly, she was about to resume her pitiful attempt at decorating when the sound of her cell phone ringing in the kitchen reached her ears. She clambered off the ladder and trudged off to answer it. If she had been paying attention, she might have noticed the crystal sitting in the center of the coffee table.

\- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . –

“What?”

“That’s not a problem, is it?”

“…No, Margaret, of course it isn’t.”

“Alright, see you then!”

Sarah snapped her phone shut but resisted the urge to chuck it across the room. Barely. Enclosing the phone in her fist, she pressed her knuckles to her forehead and tried not to panic. _Ok, two hours. I can do this. It’s no problem. I can do this. I just need to finish decorating, put out all the food and drinks, move some furniture, wrap the present, get showered, set up the music, pick up the cake…oh fuck._ Jamming the phone in her pocket, she dashed into the living room and back up the ladder. And she started taping up streamers and balloons like nobody’s business. Her blonde friend had called to say that her roommate, the birthday girl, was getting off of work early so the party had just been bumped up from 8:00 to 6:00. Leaving her with very little time. She finished hanging the streamers in the dining room and moved the ladder into the living room. She strung streamers and balloons haphazardly throughout the room, more focused on getting it all up there than making it look perfect. Once the ceiling was swathed in tissue, she scrambled down the ladder and over to the stereo. She flipped quickly through CDs, completely clueless as to what kind of music to pick. Finally, she decided on a couple rock albums, figuring that if they really didn’t like them they could turn on the radio.

She popped the discs into the player and then ran back to the ladder. Folding it up, she hauled it into the garage before racing back into the kitchen. She pulled out liters of soda and plastic cups and utensils from the pantry, party trays from the fridge, bottles and bottles of alcohol from the cabinet, bags of junk food, and spread them all out across the counter. She dumped chips and pretzels into big plastic bowls, arranged the bottles of booze and soda neatly in the corner along with the cups, opened up the plastic cutlery and plates, put ice in the ice bucket. Checking the time on the stove clock once she was finished, she swore softly and tore through the house and up the stairs, shedding articles of clothing as she did so. She skidded into the bathroom and flipped on the shower, peeling off the last of her clothes and jumping in before it was warm. She flinched at the torrent of cold water but it soon turned steamy and she busied herself with scrubbing her hair. Approximately ten minutes later she was wrapped in a fluffy robe and heading to her old room to get dressed when the doorbell rang. She froze, eyes wide. It was too early for party guests, right? She scurried downstairs, blowing out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was only the pizza man. She’d called yesterday to order about twenty pizzas and they were early. She pulled open the door, forgetting the fact that she was naked beneath the robe and her hair was dripping wet.

“Hi.”

The pimply teen on the porch paused for a moment before returning her greeting with, a slightly shaky, one of his own. “Hi.”

They stared at each other awkwardly, Sarah’s cheeks turning the faintest of pinks for answering the door as she was. Finally, she broke the silence. “Could you just set them on the table?”

The teen nodded quickly and carried the stack of pizza boxes inside. It took him three trips to get the entire order on the table and once he was finished Sarah was quick to tip him and send him on his way. After closing the door, she wasted no time in dashing upstairs to get dressed. She rummaged through the overnight bag she had brought only to find the jeans and top she’d packed for the party were missing. _Are you fucking kidding me right now?_ She spent the next few minutes tearing her room apart with no sign of her clothes. _I don’t have fucking time for this._ Giving up, she went to the closet and dug around, thankful that she hadn’t moved all her clothes to her dorm. She wasn’t, however, very impressed with the assortment of old Christmas sweaters and her stepmother’s pantsuits that seemed to be the only thing occupying the space. Where the hell had all her clothes gone? She was about to angrily slam the closet doors shut when she glimpsed a flash of midnight blue. Hidden in the back was a simple, but kind of elegant, dress she didn’t remember owning. _Karen must’ve bought it._ She would have preferred jeans, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. She didn’t even bother with hair and makeup; there would be time for that later, somewhere. She was slipping on her sneakers when the doorbell rang again. Letting out an exaggerated sob of frustration, she trudged downstairs to answer it. She never even noticed the owl leering at her through the window.

\- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . –

It was Margaret at the door, holding three cases of beer.

“Just in case,” she explained in response to Sarah’s incredulous look, barreling past her to set the cases down in the kitchen. “You look hot, by the way.”

“Thanks.”

“The place looks...nice.”

“Shut up, I tried, okay?”

“No really, it looks great,” Margaret laughed, throwing an arm over Sarah’s shoulder. “You did a wonderful job. Thank you.”

The brunette rolled her eyes. “Help me set up some tables.”

“As you command, my liege,” she grinned, executing a low sweeping bow.

\- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . –

“Looks good,” Margaret said, hands on her hips as she surveyed the foldable tables and chairs they’d spent the last 20 minutes arranging in the backyard.

“Yes,” Sarah agreed. “And just in time, people should be showing up any...oh shit.”

“What? What?” the blonde asked, looking alarmed.

Sarah sputtered angrily for a few moments before she could finally spit out, “I forgot about the cake!”

Margaret started chortling. She put her hands on her friend’s shoulders and said, “Okay, calm down, deep breaths. _I’ll_ go get the cake.”

Sarah did as instructed and took a few deep breaths. “Thank you.”

“Alright, I’ll be back soon. Brianna should be here around six.”

“Right,” Sarah replied with a slightly dismal tone.

\- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . –

The party was just starting to pick up speed when Margaret returned with the cake. Sarah had spent the time flitting about like a maniac, being the good hostess and making sure all her guests were having a decent time. She slumped against the kitchen counter beside her friend as the blonde set down the confection.

“I’m never hosting a party again,” Sarah oathed.

“Why?” Margaret laughed.

“It’s exhausting. And I’m bad at it.”

“No you’re not, you’re doing a wonderful job,” she glanced down to see Sarah glaring at her before continuing,”Anyway, Scott should be here with Brianna any minute now.”

“Alright, let’s start getting people to hide.”

‘Any minute now’ turned out to be more like 25 minutes but the look on Brianna’s face when a room full of people welcomed her with a chorus of ‘Surprise!’ was well worth the cramped legs and mumbled complaints. The poor girl nearly started crying. But things started going much smoother after that. That is, until Sarah remembered she still hadn’t wrapped the present. With a slur of curses worthy of a truck driver, she flew upstairs, passed the couple making out on the steps, and into her bedroom. She flipped the light switch on only to watch the light flicker out. _Are you serious?_ She closed her eyes and counted to ten. And then twenty. And then to thirty just for good measure. After assuring herself that bulbs burned out all the time and the universe was not, in fact, out to get her, she walked over to the vanity, using the glow from the hallway to navigate the darkened room and trying to remember if the wrapping paper was still stored in the hall closet. She paused in front of the vanity. The present wasn't there where she'd left it. So maybe the universe was out to get her. She started digging through her drawers, trying to beat down her rising panic. Behind her, someone cleared their throat. She nearly jumped out of her skin. "God, you scared th-"

Her throat seized up and, she wasn't precisely sure but, it felt like it was her heart now residing there.

"You know, for a while, I thought you were ignoring me. But no. You are just astoundingly oblivious."

She grit her teeth, shock quickly giving way to anger. "What are _you_ doing here?!"

He was sprawled across her bed like he owned the thing, one hand toying with a crystal in that annoyingly mesmerizing way of his. It was just so lazily graceful; it made her want to spit. His eyes flicked up to her after a moment and he granted her a grin. "Still astoundingly oblivious."

She choked on her anger and didn't know whether to yell at him or hit him with something hard. He spoke before she could decide. "Lovely dress, by the way. Better legs."

Hit him. She was definitely going to hit him. She stalked toward the bed, jaw clenched so tight her teeth hurt, and the stupid smile on his face did nothing to dampen her fury. But before she could even raise a fist, he'd grabbed her by the wrist and, with a rather undignified squeak, pulled her down on top of him. Of all the things she had considered happening, straddling the Goblin King had not made the list. And yet there she was.

"Now, now, precious," he said, one hand still around her wrist and the other creeping up her thigh.

"Precious?" She scoffed, slapping at the hand trying to slip under her skirt.

He pouted his lips for a moment before that lazy grin was back on his face. "So, who is it that you've gone to such lengths for with this little celebration?"

She tried to ignore the way his thumb was rubbing circles into her thigh. "That is none of your business, Goblin King. Now, if you would be so kind, unhand me and then leave."

"I think not."

She sighed huffily. "Please?"

"Oh my, Sarah, I never thought I'd have you begging so soon."

"Ha, don't flatter yourself," she muttered, moving to clamber off of him.

"Not so fast, _precious_ ,” his hands settling on her waist and keeping her firmly seated atop him, “I’ve been trying to gain your attention all day. And now that I have it, I won’t be relinquishing it so easily.”

She stared down at him for a moment. “You’re doing this because you’re bored, aren’t you?”

The responding grin was all the answer she needed. "You are such a-"

He didn't let her finish, cupping her face in his hands and pulling her down to his mouth instead. She went rigid above him as her brain promptly short-circuited. His lips were warm against hers. It felt like an eternity. Not long at all. He finally drew back but not before sucking her lower lip between his teeth. She spent the next minute blinking at him, trying to regain her breathing function.

"You are entirely too good at that," she said at last.

His smile was far too sharp and far too smug. She rolled her eyes and kissed him before he could make some self-congratulating comment. His laughter rumbled in her mouth. He was slow and deliberate in his kiss. He made sure she was aching for more before finally giving it to her. She moaned around his tongue. The scent of peaches was suddenly heavy in the air. His hands slid up her thighs to her waist and she gasped a little, her fingers clutching in the fabric of his shirt. He made an appreciative noise.

She pulled back with sudden realization. “You hid my clothes! And my birthday present!”

He grinned. “Goblins can be so troublesome.”

He guided her back down to his mouth before she could make her retort. She showed her annoyance well enough with a biting, vicious kiss. That amused him. He was laughing when he broke away to trail long, open mouthed kisses down her throat. His fingers coiled into her hair while he left a battery of faint marks in his wake. Which was a decent distraction because within a few moments she was making small, thoughtless sounds. Her breathing hitched when he scraped his teeth over her pulse.

" _Jareth_."

He growled, his free hand sliding under her dress as he worked his way back to her mouth. She moved against him, feeling the length of him, and he growled again. That made her grin. She did it again, a little vindictively. His hands tightened on her.

"Sarah." His tone was chastising, but he was panting.

"Yes?" she replied, innocently.

His eyes glittered. "Don't tempt me unless you're prepared to deliver."

Her mouth fell open and he took the opportunity to nip at her bottom lip before kissing her fully. She moaned into him as he devoured her.

" _Ahem_."

Sarah broke away from Jareth's mouth with a gasp and glanced over her shoulder to find Margaret standing in the doorway. With a particularly pleased grin on her face.

"Sorry to interrupt you lovebirds but, Sarah, your presence is required downstairs?"

"Okay, I'll be right there."

The blonde snickered knowingly as she walked away. Sarah looked back down at Jareth. "She's never going to let me live this down, you know."

He hummed, with more than a little self-satisfaction, and bit her bottom lip.

"I have to go."

He hummed again and bit her jaw.

"And I'm gonna need that present back."

He made no noise but the way his breath fluttered suggested he was laughing as he bit her lips again.

"I'm going now."

"Then I will wait with baited breath until our next meeting, Sarah precious.”

She rolled her eyes but it took a great deal of willpower to dismount him and a good deal more to get her legs to support her. She ignored his smug little smirk.

“Well?” she said, sticking out her hand.

With a flick of his wrist, he conjured up a neat little package, wrapped in delicate silver paper that shimmered even in the darkness. She couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips.

“Thank you,” she said as she took the present from him. She paused for a moment, looking at him. "One more for the road," she quipped and bent down to cover his mouth with her own.

He certainly made it count.

She was contemplating crawling back on top of him when someone yelled her name from downstairs.

"Okay, I'm leaving now." She made it to the door before she spun back around. "No magical shenanigans in front of the mortals, got it?"

He grinned. "My, Sarah, what have I done that would ever give you that idea?"

She fixed him with a deadpan stare. "Goodbye, Goblin King."

His tone was dark with intent. "Until later, precious."

She did not run away. It was a tactical retreat. And if her face was burning it was only because it was hot in here. She made her way back downstairs, passed the couple still making out on the steps, and eventually found Margaret and Brianna. Pointedly ignoring Margaret and her leering, she passed over the present.

"Happy birthday, Brianna!"

"Thank you so much, Sarah! For all of this! " Brianna said, enveloping her into a hug.

Sarah kept up small talk, trying her damnedest to delay the inevitable confrontation with Margaret, until Brianna was pulled away by someone else. And then she was forced to acknowledge the blonde smirking at her.

"Okay, spill. Who's the hot guy in your bedroom? I want details. All the nasty, nitty gritty details. Don't leave anything out."

Sarah sighed and rubbed at her eyes. She needed a stiff drink.

\- . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . - . –

It wasn’t until later, after the party was over and she had showered off the stench of alcohol and peaches, that she discovered all of her underwear was missing.


End file.
